The present invention relates to a handrail-forming device for a high-speed moving walkway or the like, said device being accelerated and decelerated respectively at its upstream end and at its downstream end.
A handrail-forming device of the above-mentioned type is known for example from the Applicant""s Document EP-A-1 046 606. That device comprises handrail elements organized such that the visible handrail elements that make up the top run of the device and that are moved in the downstream direction are moved at a decelerated speed in a decelerated safety zone which is situated upstream from and in the vicinity of the downstream end of said device, and in which said elements must be accessible to the public.
Downstream from said safety zone, the handrail elements pass through an acceleration and turn-around zone of said device, in which zone they are no longer accessible to the public.
For the safety both of the equipment and of the users of such a moving walkway or the like, it is essential to provide a safety device adapted to stop the handrail-forming device, and in general also the moving walkway, in the event that, for any reason, a foreign body, e.g. the hand of a user, hanging onto handrail elements is in danger of being entrained downstream from said safety zone.
An object of the present invention is to solve the problem posed and to provide a solution guaranteeing the safety both of the equipment and of the users.
It should be noted that this problem does not arise in conventional moving walkways that travel at a normal speed at which the handrails are neither accelerated nor decelerated at their ends, and in which they travel at a constant speed between two turn-around zones that are visible in part.
The downstream turn-around zone is situated at a place where the users have stepped off the moving walkway and can, if necessary, lean on the stationary balustrade of the walkway.
The safety member provided for the handrail is then installed at a place which is not directly accessible to the public, e.g. at the substantially vertical segment or at the horizontal segment constituting the upstream end of the return bottom run, along which the handrail disappears, after it has turned around, in the bottom portion of the walkway, and said safety member can be constituted merely by a safety switch of any type adapted to being actuated in the event that a foreign body goes past.
Such a member is not adapted to a handrail-forming device of the above-mentioned type.
In the present invention, the device of the above-mentioned type includes a protection and safety assembly which covers the downstream end of said device and which, in said decelerated safety zone, includes a moving member disposed above said handrail elements and adapted to be entrained by a foreign body itself entrained by said handrail elements in the same direction as and at the same speed as said handrail elements along a substantially horizontal path, and detector means adapted to detect predetermined displacement of said member in said direction, and to cause at least said device to stop.
Thus, as soon as a foreign body is entrained by the handrail elements into the safety zone, the moving member is entrained by said foreign body, and the displacement of said moving member is detected so that the device and the moving walkway are caused to stop.
In addition, like the handrail elements, the moving member moves along a substantially horizontal path, so that any incident is detected, and the device and, in general, the walkway are stopped well before the turnaround zone and well before the incident can have serious consequences for users.
In an advantageous version of the invention, said assembly includes actuator means for causing said member as entrained in this way by a foreign body to be moved in said direction at a speed higher than the speed of said foreign body.
This removes all risk of a foreign body or of the hand of a user being pinched between the moving member and the handrail elements.
In an advantageous version of the invention, the actuator means comprise means for exerting a force on the moving member in the direction in which the handrail elements move, the protection and safety assembly also including brake means adapted to maintain said member in its waiting position against the effect of said force, and to cease their braking action at least in part when a foreign body entrained by the handrail elements goes past.
The moving member, urged continuously by said force, is released as soon as the braking action is lower than said force, and thus constitutes a sub-assembly that moves with very low inertia, and that is capable of reacting very rapidly in the event of intrusion of a foreign body.
In a very advantageous version of the invention, the protection and safety assembly includes protection means disposed above said member to protect said member, and adapted to open up to allow said foreign body to pass through when it is entrained with some minimum force by said handrail elements.
Such protection means make it easy to head off or deflect objects that are merely deposited on the handrail elements but that are not fixed or coupled firmly to them, so as to avoid untimely stopping of the handrail-forming device of the present invention, while also guaranteeing full safety for the equipment and the users.
In a preferred version of the present invention, the protection means comprise two elastic lips that are substantially touching, extending longitudinally above said member in their closed position, and that are organized such that the respective adjacent edges of said two lips can move apart from each other transversely and upwards into a raised position to allow said foreign body to go past.